Limestone Early Childhood Program: An Elevated Experience of Excellence

Becoming a certified teacher is a lifelong dream for many! Limestone College offers an experience that elevates excellence in the use of knowledge, methods and professionalism for future early childhood educators. Our program is rigorous, this makes us proud, and our teacher candidates prepared. Individuals who complete the early childhood program, will realize their dream come true through the attainment of a Bachelors degree that earns them the privilege of performing the important work of promoting development for children in PK-3rd grades.

Educator Preparation Experiences

The experiences that it requires to prepare 21st century educators for the field of teaching are complex and highly involved. In the Limestone Early Childhood Program, our teacher candidates are held to the gold standards of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Through aderhence, teacher candidates demonstrate evidence of excellence by meeting the NAEYC Professional Preparation Standards.

National Honor Society for Educators

Pi Lambda Theta has the most stringent GPA requirements for membership. Eligible candidates must have a cumulative GPA of 3.50 or higher and must be an undergraduate junior, senior, recent graduate, or current education professional. Membership includes: gold honor cords to wear at graduation, connections to professionals, eligibility for scholarship, an online badge for LinkedIn profile, and much more! https://pilambda.org/

Coursework and Competencies

The Limestone Early Childhood coursework is built on the framework of rigorous teaching competencies, ensuring that teacher candidates are held accountable to professional preparation experiences of excellence. The expectations of knowledge and practice includes the following:

Promoting Child Development and Learning

Building Family and Community Relationships

Observing, Documenting, and Asessing

Using Developmentally Appropriate Approaches

Using Content Knowledge to Build Meaningful Curriculum

Becoming a Professional

Observing and Practicing in Diverse Early Education Settings: Field Experiences

Steps to Sudent Teaching

The Praxis Examinations

The Praxis® tests measure the academic skills and subject-specific content knowledge needed for teaching. The Praxis tests are taken by individuals entering the teaching profession as part of the certification process required by many states and professional licensing organizations. Teacher candidates must pass the Praxis examinations benchmarks:

Praxis CORE: must be passed for admittance to the teaching program

Praxis II (content area) and the Principles of Learning and Teaching (PLT) exam: must be passed prior to student teaching

Excellence in Leadership

The Limestone Early Childhood Program is led by Dr. Teresa White who is committed to equipping educators to provide world class learning experiences for students in PK-3rd grade. Dr. White has a standard of excellence and is active in service to several boards that elevate teacher excellence and early literacy. Her experiences as a Special Education Teacher, Twice Teacher of the Year, Early Interventionist, Day Care Director, and certified trainer for South Carolina Career Development makes Dr. White an active member in the field of early childhood. Dr. White has authored a book The Vapor Effect to provide strategies for parents and educators to promote reading readiness based on five researched best practices.